Glossary of Computer Terms

Computer Terms Glossary

This page is meant to serve as a guide to the vast
quantity of computer terms and acronyms in common use for the
casual computer user. It is divided into two main sections,
the first is dedicated to the basics and
is meant more for beginners, while the second is meant instead to be used as a
reference. In reality many of the terms in the second section
are still quite common; the first section was deliberately
kept as short as possible.

Terms in the second section may be looked up by either
using the "find in page" function of your browser, or by
appending "#term" (without the quotes and where
term is the term of interest) to the "URL" or "go
to" section of your browser, keeping in mind that case
matters. The best method of searching for a term though is
to use the Search
Interface that will return not only the specific term
sought but also other entries that reference it. Be aware
that the terms referenced in the second part of this page
will freely assume familiarity with the first part.

If you want something added or see a problem with
something already here (but keep in mind this guide is not
meant to be overly technical) please send .

Reference

variable width

As applied to a font,
variable width means that different characters will have different
widths as appropriate. For example, an "i" will take up
much less space than an "m". The opposite of variable
width is fixed width. The
terms "proportional width" and "proportionally
spaced" mean the same thing as variable width. Some common
variable width fonts include Times, Helvetica, and
Bookman.

VAX

The VAX is a computer platform
developed by Digital. Its plural is VAXen. VAXen are
large expensive machines that were once quite popular in
large businesses; today modern UNIXworkstations have all the
capability of VAXen but take up much less space. Their
OS is called VMS.

vector

This term has two common meanings. The first is in the
geometric sense: a vector defines a direction and
magnitude. The second concerns the
formatting of
fonts and images. If
a font is a vector font or an image is a vector image, it is defined as lines of
relative size and direction rather than as collections of
pixels (the method used in
bitmapped fonts and images). This
makes it easier to change the size of the font or image, but puts a bigger
load on the device that has
to display the font or image. The term "outline font" means the same
thing as vector font.

Veronica & Veronica2

Although traditionally written as a proper name, Veronica is actually an acronym for "very easy rodent-oriented netwide index to computerized archives", where the "rodent" refers to gopher. The acronym was obviously a little forced to go along with the pre-existing (and now largely unused) Archie, in order to have a little fun with a comic book reference. Regardless, Veronica (or these days more likely Veronica2) is essentially a search engine for gopher resources.

VIC-20

The Commodore VIC-20 computer sold millions of units and is generally considered
to have been the first affordable home computer. It features a
ROM-based
BASIC and
uses it as a default "OS".
It is based on the 65xx family of
processors. VIC (in case you
are wondering) can stand for either video interface
c or video interface
computer. The VIC-20 is the precursor
to the C64/128.

virtual machine

A virtual machine is a machine completely defined and
implemented in software rather
than hardware. It is often
referred to as a "runtime environment"; code
compiled for such a machine
is typically called bytecode.

virtual memory

This is a scheme by which disk space
is made to substitute for the more expensive
RAM space. Using it will often
enable a comptuer to do things it could not do without it, but it
will also often result in an overall slowing down of the
system. The concept of swap space is very similar.

virtual reality

Virtual reality (often called VR for short) is generally
speaking an attempt to provide more natural, human
interfaces to software. It can be
as simple as a pseudo 3D interface or as elaborate as an
isolated room in which the computer can control the
user's senses of vision, hearing, and
even smell and touch.

virus

A virus is a program that will
seek to duplicate itself in memory
and on disks, but in a subtle way
that will not immediately be noticed. A computer on the
same network as an infected
computer or that uses an infected disk (even a
floppy) or that
downloads and
runs an
infected program can itself become infected. A virus can
only spread to computers of the same
platform. For example, on a network
consisting of a WinTel box, a
Mac, and a
Linux
box, if one machine acquires a virus the other two will
probably still be safe. Note also that different
platforms have different general levels of resistance;
UNIX machines are almost immune,
Win '95 /
'98 /
ME /
XP is quite vulnerable,
and most others lie somewhere in between.

VoIP means "Voice over IP" and it is quite simply a way of utilizing the Internet (or even in some cases intranets) for telephone conversations. The primary motivations for doing so are cost and convenience as VoIP is significantly less expensive than typical telephone long distance packages, plus one high speed Internet connection can serve for multiple phone lines.

VRML

A Virtual Reality Modeling Language file is used to represent VR objects. It has essentially been superceded by X3D.